Moblin

Moblin
First appearance	The Legend of Zelda
Latest appearance	Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer featuring The Legend of Zelda
Notable member(s) King Moblin Monster Lady Moe Nilbom the Tailor
Variant(s) Big Blin Big Moblin Club Moblin Cursed Moblin Pig Warrior Quick Moblin Stalblin
Relative(s) Bokoblin Bulblin Miniblin
Comparable Guard Goriya Taros

Moblins, originally called Molblins are common enemies that usually wield spears and live in forests. In 2D games, they are commonly among the weakest and most common on humanoid enemies, though in 3D games, this role often goes instead to the related Bokoblins, with Moblins being depicted as stronger. Generally, they resemble bulldogs or pigs.

History

The Legend of Zelda series

The Legend of Zelda

In The Legend of Zelda, Molblins appear in large amounts in forested areas, and throw an endless amount of spears that resemble Link's arrows. The spears can be blocked by Link's shields. Molblins resemble bulldogs and appear in two colors, being orange and teal. Along with Zolas, they are notably the only entities that use the overworld's "teal, red, and black" palette outside of flashing from being damaged. In the Satellaview remake, BS Zelda no Densetsu, they are now red and blue.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

In Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Molblins appear in early forest areas, and come in three colors. Orange, red, and blue Molblins tend to run from off-screen, throw their spears, and then run back off screen. Orange Molblins can also charge forward in endless amounts. When they do this, they do not give experience points upon defeat. In fact, in Western releases, being hit by this type of Moblin takes away experience points.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

In The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Moblins are redesigned to resemble pigs, likely to connect to Ganon. They only appear in the Dark World, and act as an analogue to the soldiers that throw spears. They have brown skin, and only appear with indigo clothes.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

In The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Moblins are found primarily in the Mysterious Woods. They resemble bulldogs again, and can either throw spears or wield a sword and shield, acting like the sword soldiers from A Link to the Past. Later, a group of Moblins led by King Moblin steal the Bowwow from Madame Meowmeow. Additionally, the mountainous regions are home to a variant called Pig Warrior, which is based off their appearance in A Link to the Past. They share the same behaviors, but are slightly stronger. Additionally, Darknuts and Shrouded Stalfos also use these behaviors. In The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, they are all given the blue palette. In the Nintendo Switch remake, all Moblins resemble pigs, with the forest ones resembling furry, pointy-eared feral pigs, and the Pig Warriors looking like the Moblins in A Link Between Worlds.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Moblins only appear in the Sacred Forest Meadow in the future. They resemble brown bulldogs with gold-colored armor. They are quite large, but only have a single hit point. Navi also lacks commentary on them, and in fact cannot even target them. They slowly walk back and forth through the maze-like area, charging into Link if they see him. At the end, a large Club Moblin will be fought.

Moblins in this game have an unused behavior.Template:Citation needed If attacked, they are intended to charge in random directions angrily for a while, suggesting they were originally in more open locations. Due to the health value being set at minimum, however, this can only occur if the younger Link sequence breaks into the future and hits one with the Boomerang.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons / Ages

In The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, both Moblins and Pig Warriors appear in red and blue, using spears and swords. The latter are now led by the Great Moblin. In the former game, a golden Moblin can be found as part of a quest. In both games, Link can use the Moblin Ring to look like a Moblin.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords

In The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, Moblins use their design from the development of The Wind Waker, being large brown pigs with large mouths and small legs. They can wield either spears or bows, being called Spear Moblins and Bow Moblins. Spear Moblins charge forwards when they see a Link, with Bow Moblins being a closer analogue to the previous 2D behavior.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

In The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Moblins are top-heavy pigs with big smiles and beady eyes. They wield large spears that they can swing or poke with. If they lose their spears, they will continue to attack with their fists. They also carry Skull Necklaces around their necks, which can be stolen with the Grappling Hook. Brown Moblins simply fight, but teal Moblins carry lanterns, which they can throw to cause a hug blaze of fire. Teal Moblins primarily appear in the Forsaken Fortress, where they constantly look and sniff for intruders. On Link's first visit, he has lost his sword and as such is defenseless, so being caught by on will cause him to automatically be thrown in a jail cell. He can sneak past by hiding in barrels. One Moblin, Moe, made friends with one of the girls captured there, Maggie, and provided her with enough Skull Necklaces that her formerly-destitute father made a fortune selling them.

The Moblin design in the game is ultimately what inspired the aesthetic the rest of the game would have. The Moblins' previous role as a typical weak enemy was for the most part given to the smaller Bokoblin.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

In The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, Moblins appear with their varieties and graphics from Four Swords, and color variations from The Wind Waker. However, the colors do not seem to denote any functional difference. A teal one is initially summoned to battle Link by Vaati after he gains two of the Elements. Brown ones can be found commonly afterwards. Their Figurine claims that Spear Moblins appear in the Minish Woods, but this in fact is not true.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

In The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Moblins are depicted as extremely fat red oni-like monsters. They wield spears and giant shields. They are divided between Wooden Shield Moblins and Metal Shield Moblins. Wooden Shield Moblins are the more common of the two. Their shields can be sliced apart with enough sword strikes, though they tend to rotate them to keep covered. Even without the shield, they are quite resilient, with their large bellies shrugging off most blows. Once they are defeated, they slowly start to fall forwards. If Link is in front of them when they do so, he will take damage.

Metal Shield Moblins are rare mini-bosses. They wear helmets, and their reinforced shields cannot be broken. However, they can be climbed upon, allowing Link to get behind them and attack the Moblin's back.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

In The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Moblins appear in Lorule with the same purpose as in A Link to the Past. They are now orange and stockier, and their spears can hurt other enemies. There is also a shirtless sword-and-shield-wielding variety, that acts more like sword soldiers. Unlike sword soldiers, their shields are vry large and difficult to hit around. The shield can be sliced with the Tempered Sword or Golden Sword, and can also be removed with the Hookshot.

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes

In The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, Moblins are fairly common early-game enemies, and look as they do in A Link Between Worlds. Their spears go in a downward arc, so sometimes they stay on high platforms or, more commonly, on top of Totem Armos, requiring a Totem position to attack them. There is also a dark, purple-colored type in the Den of Trials that seems to be physically based off the sword variety from A Link Between Worlds.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Moblins are depicted as being tall and lanky, with a head resembling a cross between a rhino and an aardvark. Like most humanoid enemies in the game, they come in red, blue, and black, with silver ones showing up after an extremely large amount of total enemies are defeated. DLC also contains an even stronger golden variety. Moblins have various types of swords, clubs, spears, and bows associated with them, which are sometimes swapped with Bokoblin weapons. Du to their height, an unarmed Moblin will prefer to kick Link rather than punch him. If he is out of range, they will throw rocks at him. Black Moblins and stronger may also throw Bokoblins. Ordinary Moblins are likely to be the first new enemy Link encounters after laving the Great Plateau. Moblins can be fooled using the Moblin Mask, although they will follow Link curiously for some distance. At night, Stalblins appear in certain more high-difficulty tier locations, and can also be fooled by the mask.

Zelda (Game & Watch)

In the Zelda Game & Watch game, Molblins are called Goblins. One must be defeated on each floor to progress, aside from the boss rooms. They can throw spears, which can be blocked by the shield.

CD-i games

Link: The Faces of Evil

In Link: the Faces of Evil, Molblins are extremely common enemies, first appearing in Nortinka, a starting location. They either charge at Link, or crouch while throwing spears. They are also capable of entering buildings behind Link to ambush him. The boss Harlequin turns Koridians who lose at gambling in his bazaar into Molblin minions.

Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon

In Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, Molblins appear as they do in The Faces of Evil, and are again quite common, initially appearing in Kobitan, a starting location.

Zelda's Adventure

In Zelda's Adventure, Moblins are called Mobilins. They appear in the forest regions, and generally just wander around aimlessly, attacking Princess Zelda if they see her. A talking mushroom jokes about how "slow and stupid" they are, claiming they are "still trying to eat soup with a fork."

Nintendo Land

In the Battle Quest mode of Nintendo Land, burlap representations of Moblins appear as enemies, alongside Moblins Archers and Quick Moblins.

Hyrule Warriors

In Hyrule Warriors and its remakes, Moblins appear as the Wooden Shield Moblins from Skyward Sword. Metal Shield Moblins are just called "Shield Moblins," despite both having shields. Neither type of shield can be destroyed. They are very powerful, have a large amount of defensive area, and are quite durable. However, they are generally quite slow. They have many attacks. They can swing their spears back and forth over a wide area, throw them a great distance, charge quickly, flop onto their bellies, and spin around rapidly while moving around. The latter two attacks leave them open for powerful attacks to be made against them, and the last one can be canceled out in later rereleases. In the Adventure Mode maps, Moblins are represented by the orange Moblins from The Legend of Zelda, while the Shield Moblins are represented by the teal ones.

Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer featuring The Legend of Zelda

In Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer featuring The Legend of Zelda, Moblins appear as fat pigs, and appear in various colors.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	モリブリン Moriburin	From 森 (Mori, forest) and "goblin"